It is sometimes necessary to apply a relatively long label to the periphery of an article such that the label covers more than one face or side of the article. It is common practice to apply long labels of this type to cylindrical articles using wrap around labeling techniques. A wrap around label applicator is shown, by way of example, in Crankshaw U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,429.
One problem in applying long labels to the peripheral or side wall of an article is in properly orienting the article with respect to the label. If the article and label are slightly angularly misaligned at the leading edge of the label, the trailing portion of the label will be displaced substantially from its desired location on the article. This kind of labeling is even more difficult when the peripheral wall of the article is noncylindrical or irregular in shape.
Crankshaw et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,621 shows a device for accurately orienting irregularly shaped articles with respect to a label applicator. The label applicator applies the label to the article while the article is held in a predetermined orientation. This patented construction functions extremely well; however, as disclosed in the patent, only relatively small labels are applied to a single side or panel of the article to be labeled. Thus, this patent does not disclose how to utilize the article orienting device in a way to permit long labels to be applied to two or more sides or panels of the article.